long road trips

AmandaP678 · May 2012

Talk to me on how to tackle this. We're doing a 6 hour road trip to PA this summer with the boys. we're going to get a portable DVD player to we can watch 6 AMAZING hours of Mickey. Hopefully we can get him to watch Toy Story or something else too. Snacks and junk toys. But I;'m scared to death about making this trip. I'm beginning to think we are insane for doing it

I'm not sure if we should leave in the middle of the night to beat traffic or leave later at night .

Amitchell0626 · May 2012

We do a 6+ hour road trip almost every month since Alexa was born. We don't do anything special. Stop once or twice to eat/change her. She sleeps most of the time. Last week when we went DH sat in the back with her and she hardly slept at all, just played and babbled.

jdm7 · May 2012

Since they're both so young, you could always plan to leave around 4pm and then make a stop for dinner around 6 or something and then hopefully have them crash out through the rest of the trip. It'd give you 2 hours of being on the road with a movie, and then hopefully them just sleeping the rest of the way and then putting them to bed at night.

officiallyoutnumbered · May 2012

We are going Memorial weekend about 4.5 hours so we'll see. The boys do ok but they play hand held games and watch movies. Riding in the back with Miss V is a good idea we may have to do that to keep her happy. We are leaving around noon maybe I will try to keep her up and not let her take a morning nap so she can sleep part of the way.

LyndseyLC · May 2012

good question, we are going on a 4 hour trip first weekend in june. longest car ride so far for her is a little over an hour and she slept the entire time but it was during nap time

katie4253 · May 2012

We did a 32hr road trip. Really, it wasn't bad. We stopped a lot. Since it is a 6hr trip, add about 15-30% additional time. We had 2 dogs and Gabe. Once we got them synched up with their stops, it got better.

We got some new toys that we ONLY took out for the trip. We took a new one out each day of the trip. It kept things fresh.

I wouldn't leave in the middle of the night. You will already be tired from packing and such. Just keep your routine.

jmo866 · May 2012

I don't know if your boys will nap in the car, but if so, I'd plan to leave when they are tired, so maybe they will sleep for the first bit, or, I like the PP that said to leave around 4-5, so that maybe they will crash after some stimulating DVD time for the second half. We always plan around naps, and have done the 7+ hour trip to the IL's numerous times. I know it will be tougher with DS1 for you probably. It will be fine, really, plan to make stops, and try to get them to sleep at least part of the way. Bring interesting toys, and anything else you may need for sleepy time. We bring his noise machine, his lovey etc. and he usually sleeps at least for a bit. GL!

Edit: typo

lisamoe · May 2012

We are doing a 12hr road trip to Hilton Head in July. We are breaking it up in 2 days worth of driving.

I have heard a lot of people talk about the drive thru the night, but that isn't for us. DS is a horrible sleeper and if we don't get sleep at night, I don't know how we will function when he is up raring to go in the daytime.

I would stick with your routines, make some stops for eating and changing, and if your LOs are walking, to get some exercise. I have a horrible sleeper, but the car is a God send. I'm hoping he crashes most of the time.

clineak · May 2012

We are doing a 12 hour trip in a couple of weeks. We are just going to leaving in the morning, maybe an hour before her nap, and then just go with the flow from there. I'm sure your boys will do just fine!

Nutrguru · May 2012

In the past we've always had one of us sitting in the backseat with LO to play with him and such to keep him entertained.

We will be going on a 5 hr trip memorial day weekend as well. We will be leaving Friday night at bedtime so he can hopefully sleep the way over (he's a good car sleeper). Then when we head back we will leave when he usually goes down for his afternoon nap around 2 so he can sleep a good chunk of the way home then I can just keep him busy for a few hours.

Good luck! I'm sure your boys will do great!

AmandaP678 · May 2012

I bow down to you ladies who do mega long trips.

Sitting in back would be a great idea, except it's not an option. There's no way I'm squeezing in between the 2 car seats lol

LnR70707 · May 2012

I will be doing a 14 hr road trip with DS in about a month....alone. I'm not sure how I'm going to manage, but I'm breaking into 2 days and planning on stopping every 3 hrs. I'm mostly worried that he'll sleep in the car and then not at all once we're in the hotel, leaving me exhausted for day 2.

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